Children Served Cocktails

The last job I held waiting tables was at a neighborhood restaurant chain that catered to families and tried to liven up their bar area at night for the adult crowd. I tended bar at least one night a week and waited tables or expedited the rest of the time.

One day, my friend “Lacy” was tending bar and was preparing an order of strawberry lemonades for a table with a couple of children. About 10 minutes after the table (not mine) received the lemonades, the children began acting extremely hyper. One of the parents tasted the lemonade and was shocked by the strong taste of alcohol.

Turned out that poor “Lacy” had accidentally grabbed the pre-made Long Island mix rather than the lemonade; none were labeled and the color difference was very subtle. The parents were absolutely livid! Both children (one was around 5, the other around 8 years old) had consumed about half of their drinks, approximately 4 ounces of our very strong house Long Island. They understandably began to yell at “Lacy” for poisoning their children and she began to cry and ran to the back of the house while management came up to assist the livid parents.

One free meal (for a later date), a promise from the corporate office to pay for a doctor visit, and a lot of apologies later, the group calmed down and decided not to call the police as they previously intended. The event did end up making the local paper and reporters came to our establishment a couple of days later to investigate and speak with staff. Unfortunately, that unwanted publicity wasn’t enough for the neighborhood restaurant chain to change their policies; I have seen them in the news twice after our incident for the same thing; serving alcohol to minors by accident. The location I worked at DID change their policy and no longer premixed bar drinks in order to avoid errors.

I feel for anybody who makes a mistake due to other people's incompetence and then ends up in big trouble because of it. On the other hand, people should check things more carefully before they send them off to a kid. Even if it was a "rush hour" or something I'd be sure to check the drink before sending it off.

A mix of hard spirits used for a long island. They typically consist of 5 oz alcohol topped with coke and a splash of sweet n sour mix. Strong drinks, certainly not something a child should be drinking.

I can fully understand the parents freak out, that level of alcohol content is way too much for a child's body to be able to metabolize safely. A long Island, when made properly, can easily put an adult over the legal limit to drive, in a kids body that level could be dangerous.

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